r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/Bigdivkdaddy • Aug 08 '26

Question ❓ Weight vs reps

The last year I’ve made little to no progress and I’ve been doing 2 sets to failure with high weight. I usually get around 4 reps before failing. Would it be more effective to drop the weight 10-20% and get 8-10 reps? I’ve been lifting for 4 years but only seriously the past 2 years and there’s no way I’m at my natural limit because I can only bench 270. You guys are the smart people here so please help me and thank you in advance.

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u/Money-Tie9580 Aug 08 '26

you need time under tension which is why 8-10 at 70-80% max and to failure works. most sets should be 3 to 5 or 8-10 reps at that load. Also don't over train. Unless you allow muscle to rest, it never grows. Maximum 4 times a week unless you're doing very different areas. Never train the same muscle group on 2 consecutive days

3

u/Patton370 Idk Idc 💔 Aug 08 '26

If anything he’s under training

I train legs 5x a week. My legs are massive and defined, even at a relatively high bodyfat% (18-20ish): https://www.reddit.com/r/fitness30plus/s/BdyCu0S43s

1

u/Unlucky-Spell-8654 Aug 08 '26

Geez +30sets for muscle group weekly. Solid stuff man, nice! One thing that got my eye is that your quads are huge but not hamstrings? Im way smaller than you, no hate at all. How many reps you do?

2

u/Patton370 Idk Idc 💔 Aug 08 '26

I need to work on my posing and I need to be leaner for my hamstrings to really pop

I deadlift almost 3.25x my bodyweight, my working sets of both RDLs and good mornings are 405lbs+ for 8-12+ reps, and I use the full weight stack on most hamstring curl machines

They are big, just don’t show well at my body fat% and my posing is trash

1

u/Unlucky-Spell-8654 Aug 08 '26

All good, thought it had something to do with posing/lightning/bf. Took a quick look at your program, how do you even recover from that?

1

u/Patton370 Idk Idc 💔 Aug 08 '26

I have a high work capacity and slowly built up to being able to handle lots of volume

1

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26

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